feature photo courtesy of Forward Festival & 577 Records
Multi-instrumentalist Daniel Carter and drummer Federico Ughi go back almost twenty years. Carter and Ughi go back over a decade with keyboardist Matthew Putman. Carter, Ughi, Putman have gotten together with bassist Hillard Greene and clarinet player Patrick Holmes for three albums over the last three years. And now, the quintet that calls themselves the Telepathic Band have a fourth album out. Telepathic Mysteries Vol. 1 by the Telepathic Band implies there’s a lot of telepathy enclosed in this album and as this is a batch of group improvisations, the advertising is true.
But I made the point about how far back most of the players go back together and how much all five have played together because it informs how well the music is made. You won’t hear five guys going off in all directions playing dissonant cacophony. They run counter to that tactic; Carter, Holmes, Putman, Greene and Ughi make music together that sets a unified mood and moves (as the title makes clear) in mysterious, spacious ways. It surprises like jazz but unwinds with the quiet majesty of orchestral chamber music.
“Nun Zero” is a sound that lives up to the name of the band in its fullest. Holmes and Carter figuratively join hands as they navigate over the impressionistic splotches emitted from Putman’s piano (and later, electric piano). Green and Ughi set a pulse that’s driven by impulse, not rhythm. It’s all very much free but so melodic and assured in its direction, it’s amazing this was composed extemporaneously. It could have ended gracefully eight minutes in but quintet had other plans. Instigated by Ughi’s Jon Christensen-like percussive hues, the band changes course in more ways than one: Carter lays down his sax and picks up a muted trumpet, while Greene pulls out a bow to push the proceedings in a more somber direction.
“S-Cape Cinemagic” moves like a symphony, with dueling clarinets playing yawning, extended notes as part of a hazy, mystical milieu. Out of that, a pulse from Greene and Ughi eventually briefly emerges, followed by a peculiar bass solo and finally, actual jazz swing, where Carter swaps his reed for a trumpet. Carter’s flute does a delicate dance around Holmes’ clarinet for “Lore Levels,” and Ughi again finds the perfect spot with which to jump in with a rhythmic patters as the others feed off of each other as they build up to a near-frenzy.
The Telepathic Band mixed in a couple of shorter pieces that are not short on creativity. If it sometimes seems as if there are three, not two horns on “SignGhost Theatre,” that’s because Greene’s arco bass is blending and harmonizing neatly with Carter and Holmes. Holmes takes center stage for the entirety of the two-minute “While You Snap,” backed by Ughi’s restless drums and Greene’s insouciant bass.
Even for fans of music that’s made up as they go along, this is improvisational music of uncommon elegance and shared vision. Telepathic Mysteries Vol. 1 is out now, from 577 Records.
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